🗞 What makes UX Research job interviews 'horrible'?

😌 Humans of User Research with Carol Rossi

Hi Carol, tell us a little about yourself!
I’m a consultant focused on providing research leadership for orgs that have/want a research function but have no internal research leadership. Ultimately, it’s not about “running research” at all - it’s about teams being able to make timely decisions using good quality insights. I might provide coaching or advising for the person leading the research practice (often the director of design or UX or product), workshops for the team or leadership, or I may actually do some of the ops work to set up the infrastructure (tools, processes, etc) for the team to be able to do research well. Before starting my consultancy in 2022, I started or led UX Research teams for 14 years.

From your experience, what is one of the biggest challenges user research(ers) face today?
The biggest challenge facing UX research today is that we can’t keep doing things the way we’ve done them up til now, and we haven’t yet aligned as a field on how to move forward. In my experience, anyone who isn’t demonstrating a clear sense of business acumen will not be marketable in the future.

What’s one thing you wish you realized earlier in your research career?
The thing I wish I’d known earlier is the importance of being more integrated into the business aspect of product development. It’s not our fault that we didn’t initially focus there. In the late 90s the internet was barely a commercial entity and we were making things up as we went, then from the post dot-com bust in the early 2000s through about 2016 we were hyper-focused on design thinking and human-centered design (at the expense of integrating that work into business metrics). Now, people have figured out how to monetize offerings, so they’re hyper-focused on revenue and engagement at the expense of user experience.

What's one thing that can instantly make your day better?
That’s easy: yoga. I have a little yoga room in my apartment and that’s my refuge. Working at home I get to visit several times a day for a short reset. Yoga has kept me physically and mentally healthy for decades.

How can people learn more about you and your work?
You can find me on LinkedIn or go straight to my website.

Thank you, Carol!

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What makes UX Research job interviews “horrible?”
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UXDG Summit September 6th - 7th, 2023 (5 Free Tickets)
Innovation in UX is increasingly important as industries are evolving and emerging technologies are constantly changing. UXDG will cater to this trend and offer a unique platform for world’s best UXers to showcase their successful UX strategies - from innovative design thinking processes, product design strategies, to user research and testing. As an official media partner of UXDG, User Weekly is excited to offer 5 complimentary tickets (valued at $299 each) to the first 5 subscribers who reply to this email. If the initial tickets are claimed, you can still enjoy a 15% discount by signing up until August 30th using promo code UWY15. Register now

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Happy Researching,
🗞 Jan